Veterans May See Increase in Mental Health Care Spending

Northville, MI (Law Firm Newswire) March 22, 2012 - The proposed budget for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs 2013 fiscal year includes an increase in the funding for mental health care treatment of more than five percent.

This bump in funding represents an increase in the VA’s commitment to the mental health care of veterans as another one million active duty personnel join the ranks of veterans over the next five years.

Legal Help for Veterans is a law firm helping veterans get the benefits they deserve.

“Increased funding for mental health care at the VA should help it attack what is one of the biggest challenges the VA has ever faced,” said veterans disability lawyer Jim Fausone of Legal Help for Veterans. “The mental health needs of veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan should be addressed with the same attention that physical wounds get – maybe more.”

The VA’s proposed $6.2 billion mental health care budget would help with outreach and screenings since so many of the country’s veterans in need are suffering in silence. The money also would go toward programs that help reduce the stigma that can go along with mental health issues. The mental health care budget also would support new technologies for self-assessment and post-traumatic stress disorder symptom management.

“There have been some impressive technology advances that hold promise of making life easier for soldiers who return home with PTSD,” Fausone said.

That’s only part of the VA’s massive $140 billion budget. Another part of the health care budget not included in the $6.2 billion set aside for mental health care is about $583 million in medical research appropriations. This money, along with $1.3 billion from other sources, goes to researching traumatic brain injury, PTSD and suicide prevention.

Veterans who need help accessing mental health care or other programs through the VA should contact a qualified veterans disability attorney.